Bye Bye Telegram!File photos of operators sending transcripted codes through teleprinter, which was used after Morse Code machines in the Central Telegram Office in Bangalore

Bye Bye Telegram!A deserted telegram unit is seen at Baranagar post office June 13, 2013. Telegram services will be shut down from 15th July. This means all telegraph offices under the BSNL management will have to stop booking telegrams from that date.

Bye Bye Telegram!A telegram counter at the Customer Service Centre at Ernakulam South on Thursday.The telegram or taar, once the bearer of urgent news, good or bad, will disappear once and for all on July 15.

Bye Bye Telegram!A derelict name board for the Bangalore Telegraph office lies on the ground outside the telecommunications office premises in Bangalore on June 13, 2013. The Indian government will on July 15, 2013 discontinue the 160-year-old telegram service in the country. Telegrams, once the quickest mode of communication across India and the subcontinent, has been rendered obsolete with the ubiquitous use of mobile telephony and internet services.

Bye Bye Telegram!

An employee displays an antique telegraph transmitter key, which the operator uses to send messages using Morse code, at a telecommunications office in Bangalore on June 13, 2013.

The 160-year old telegram services in the country which are to be discontinued from July 15 will be given a ceremonial farewell.

Bye Bye Telegram!

A customer fills in a form for sending out a message using the telegraphic service at a telecommunications office in Bangalore on June 13, 2013.

"We will bid it a very warm farewell and may be the last telegram sent should be a museum piece. That's the way in which we can bid it a warm farewell," Telecom and IT Minister Kapil Sibal told PTI.

An employee feeds in a telegram message onto a computer to be sent via telegraph at a telecommunications office in Bangalore on June 13, 2013.

The first experimental electric telegraph line was started between Kolkata and Diamond Harbour in 1850 and next year it was opened for the use of the British East India Company. In 1854 the services were opened for public.

Bye Bye Telegram!File photos of telegram office in CTO building when storing and forwarding machines were used to transmit the telegraphic messages.

Bye Bye Telegram!

Employees at the phonogram section transcribe voice messages from customers, which will then be sent to the the receiving party as a telegram, at a telecommunications office in Bangalore on June 13, 2013.

The state-run telecom firm BSNL has decided to discontinue the services following huge gap between the average annual revenue of around Rs 75 lakh it generated compared to cost of over Rs 100 crore it had to bear to run and manage it.

Bye Bye Telegram!

An employee displays an antique telegraph transmitter key (R), which the operator uses to send messages using Morse code, and a telegraph receiver (L) at a telecommunications office in Bangalore on June 13, 2013.

"In last fiscal year, establishment cost for telegram services was Rs 130 crore whereas revenue were not even a crore. We consulted with Department of Posts and they also agreed that there are better options available for communication," a BSNL official said.

Bye Bye Telegram!

An employee monitors an incoming telegram at a telecommunications office in Bangalore on June 13, 2013.

There are around 75 telegram centres in the country with less than 1,000 employees to manage them. BSNL will absorb these employees and deploy them for managing mobile services, landline telephony and broadband services.

Bye Bye Telegram!

A customer fills in a form for sending out a message using the telegraphic service at a telecommunications office in Bangalore on June 13, 2013.

"There are average of around 5,000 telegram sent everyday from all the centres. These are from certain government departments, business class and by people in events of death," Senior General Manager for Telegraph Services at BSNL, Shameem Akhtar said.

Bye Bye Telegram!File photos of telegram office in CTO building when storing and forwarding machines were used to transmit the telegraphic messages.

Bye Bye Telegram!

An employee sorts incoming telegrams printed on a continuous sheet of paper at a telecommunications office in Bangalore on June 13, 2013.

Faced with declining revenues, the government had in May 2011, revised the telegram charges after a gap of 60 years. The telegram charges for inland services was hiked to Rs. 27 per 50 words from Rs. 3/50, 4/50 earlier.

Bye Bye Telegram!

Employees feed in telegram messages onto computers to be sent via telegraph at a telecommunications office in Bangalore on June 13, 2013.

Bye Bye Telegram!

An employee monitors an incoming telegram at a telecommunications office in Bangalore on June 13, 2013.

Bye Bye Telegram!

Employees at the phonogram section transcribe voice messages from customers, which will then be sent to the the receiving party as a telegram, at a telecommunications office in Bangalore on June 13, 2013.

Bye Bye Telegram!

A customer (foreground L) fills in a form for sending out a message using the telegraphic service at a telecommunications office in Bangalore on June 13, 2013.

Bye Bye Telegram!

A derelict name board for the Bangalore Telegraph office lies on the ground outside the telecommunications office premises in Bangalore on June 13, 2013. The Indian government will on July 15, 2013 discontinue the 160-year-old telegram service in the country. Telegrams, once the quickest mode of communication across India and the subcontinent, has been rendered obsolete with the ubiquitous use of mobile telephony and internet services.